West Indies Cricketer Marlon Samuels, through his Marlon Samuels Foundation, has assisted Jamaica’s blind community with a J$1.5Million (US$11,700) contribution to The Jamaica Society for the Blind.
The donation is to assist in fulfilling of their mandate of promoting the welfare, education and employment of persons who are blind or visually impaired in Jamaica.
The donation was made at a press conference at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston on Tuesday, and was received by Executive Director of the Jamaica Society for the Blind, Ms. Lola Marson.
Samuels also made a presentation of JM$350,000 (USD$2700) to a visually impaired student from Church Teacher’s College (CTC), 23-year-old Garfield Mitchell. Mitchell passed seven Caribbean Examinations Council subjects and is now his dream of becoming a teacher but has faced challenges with paying his tuition.
Samuels has been supporting Jamaica’s blind community since 2013 after he suffered an eye injury while playing for the Melbourne Renegades in the Australian Big Bash Twenty20 tournament, which left him confined to his hotel room and unable to see for two weeks.
“Well, the urge for this is definitely two weeks of closing my left eye and not being able to see anything out of my right eye. It was total darkness, so I can imagine what they are going through for their entire life being like that,” said Samuels.
